


Snapshots

by ComposerEgg



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Families of Choice, Family Dynamics, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Queer Themes, Queerplatonic Relationships, Sign Language, TWEWYTOBER 2018, Trans Character, qpp polypile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-07-25 11:11:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 11,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16196357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/pseuds/ComposerEgg
Summary: Snapshots of intertwined lives (or, well, existences), moments of peace and laughter, an ache that lingers. A family knitting itself together, with a city at the heart.A series of drabbles done for TWEWYtober, 2018, focusing on the family found. Joshua, Neku, Shiki, Eri, Beat, and Rhyme, with their (semi-decent excuse for a) father Hanekoma.From complex relationships with makeup, to dreaming of Shibuya, and family movie nights where none of these children know how to sit on a couch, they all find a way to integrate one-another into a queerplatonic polypile.(Additional info in A/N per each chapter)





	1. Day 1: Make-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua stares at the makeup, and feels instinctual hatred rise within him. But that's not true. It's fun, if it weren't so heavily associated with being a girl he'd love it more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of this is beta'd. This is barely proofread. Updated in batches possibly.
> 
> Warnings in this chapter for slight transphobia mentioned, a zalgo'd out deadname without any actual letters beyond J, and a complicated relationship with traditionally feminine things.

Glitter.

Vibrant purple. Pastel pink. Blood red.

Pencils of brown and black and silver. Steel blue polish in glass bottles.

Joshua stares down at the array in front of him. A vanity tucked away in folded space, inside his room. The green and red and purple tinted foundation is no stranger to him, used to hiding bruises and dark bags under his eyes.

The rest fills him with haunting familiarity. Echoes of memories. Dresses and ballrooms and _best behavior now, dear._ Lessons dedicated to makeup, how to sculpt your face into the perfect image of femininity.

_No rubbing at your face, J̷̨͞͝҉-̴̶͝͝-̴̸̴-̸͘͞-͘͜͜͡-҉͢͏҉-̸҉, you’ll ruin your makeup, and we worked so hard on that this morning, remember?_

After he’d died, Joshua had gathered up all the remnants of his life, all the broken pieces of the child his parents shattered. The void got a makeover, that day.

Collecting shards of glass and dust-clouds of blush would be too difficult. He didn’t bother. One shopping trip later, new supplies. Leaving the past behind.

One breath. Two. Steadies his shaking hand as he grabs the liquid eyeliner, dark as the night sky.

It wouldn’t do, to let the ink waver from it’s designated path, now would it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my own experience, honestly. I love more traditionally feminine things, but I HATE being thought of as a girl, or things that make me feel like I'm a girl.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	2. Day 2: Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neku dreams. Shibuya speaks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for allusion to suicide.

The city Neku stands in is grey. Washed out. Colors faded and white made dingy.

The splashes of art, graffiti lining the walls, has been scrubbed away. The people moving through the streets lack a spark of life in their eyes. There’s no fashionistas wandering the stores, no bright lights or music dancing through air. Sounds are dulled, blended together, nothing ringing clear. Even the ads can’t catch anyone’s attention, TV or not.

Shibuya has never looked so dead as she does now.

“A could-have-been,” says a voice behind him, floating like music on the wind. Neku spins, facing the person, to find them staring back.

Joshua, staring back.

Except, it’s not Josh. The voice was too feminine. The person in front of him is too tall. Music cascading from the figure does not spark the sense of familiarity Josh’s does.

And then there’s the eyes.

Golden flecks swirl around. No iris, no pupil, no white, just solid gold. Shimmering dust floats away, trailing behind the being as they stride closer.

“Who are you?” he asks, mind doing double-dutch to jump between different conclusions. An imposter, a body-snatcher, Josh pulling a prank. “What is this?”

They laugh, and color seeps into the world, droplets of water hitting a paper, ink bleeding into view, emanating outwards. “Silly Neku. I’m Shibuya, and you are dreaming.”

“...Dreaming? ... _Shibuya_? If this is a prank, Josh,” he says, leaving the threat unspoken as he stares them down.

Sunlight streams into the picture as they giggle, hold their arms out, and _spin_ in circles. Flashes of jewelry here, gems on the indistinct people passing through. “You are fast asleep, Neku, which means I can be awake! I can speak to you in your dreams, because you’re powerful, and I like you.”

“Then why do you look like Josh?” The tingle of electricity at his fingertips ignites, static bouncing around. If this is a dream, then psychs should work.

“Because! He’s my Composer! The one whose physical form has become inextricably linked to me! Of course I’d look like him!” She takes his hand, and he’s about to shout a warning when the lightning discharges.

She doesn’t even flinch. “Meanie, don’t go pointing psychs at me when I wanted to tell you things! Show you things!” She stomps her foot, and the cracks in the pavement seal.

“Okay, fine,” he mutters. “What am I looking at here? What did you want to say?” Maybe if she spits it out, he can go back to peaceful rest.

~~That’s a lie. The nightmares would come, and he wouldn’t sleep a wink.~~

“I wanted to thank you. For helping him,” she says, a wavering smile on her lips. “I don’t mind so much that he wanted to get rid of me, he was in pain, and it would’ve been the only way. But that _hurt_. I felt his pain too. So much despair. Sadness.”

She sighs, a puff of breath that flows through the air, brushing up against the cold concrete and letting paint bloom to life. “So I needed to show you what would’ve-been, could’ve-been, without your help. No Composer, no UG. He wanted me to replace him with you, and I would’ve accepted you! You’re our favorite! But I’m happy you let me keep him, and he let me keep him, instead of turning me into the might’ve-become.”

Golden eyes meet his, and she’s right up in his face now, stealing the air from his lungs. She leans her forehead against his. There’s nowhere to look but the swirling vortex in front of him, held back as if by a thin layer of glass with one small hole in it. Sand leaking out of a hole, flowing like an hourglass. A hand on his chest, warm and solid and full of _hope_ , pulses in time with his heart. In time with Shibuya’s beat.

For one second, her Music consumes him, pours through him. A thunderstorm trapped in a bottle, and he can’t contain it, he can’t hold onto her. Thunder booms, lightning flashes at his nerves, and the glass cracks.

The glass--

Does not shatter.

Shibuya steps back.

“Sleep, Neku Sakuraba. You will have happy dreams from now on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came up with the golden eyes thing while writing this, it's rad.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	3. Day 3: Horror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A family gathering on movie night. None of these kids know how to properly sit on a couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief suggestive language said in a teasing manner (lookin at you, Josh.)

“Joshua, _why_ are you here to watch this movie if you’re just going to play around on your phone the whole time?” Neku asks, glaring at him.

Josh snorts. “Well, how else am I supposed to get you in a position to scream so close to me, _darling_?” He’s sitting to Neku’s right, though the position he’s in hardly classifies as sitting. Hanging upside-down, head dangling just off the edge, feet resting on top of the couch, with the popcorn bowl on his stomach.

Beat snores softly to his right, having passed out in the first twenty minutes of the movie. It happens every movie night; the lights go out, and Beat falls asleep.

He’s also sitting on Neku’s feet, as Neku leans against the arm-rest, but that’s an argument he’s already lost. “I’m physically going to strangle you until you die a second time,” he deadpans.

“Kinky,” Eri says, laughing as Neku scowls. She sits cross-legged, leaning against Beat, Shiki’s head resting in her lap as Shiki’s legs dangle over the other arm-rest. Eri is braiding her hair, playing with the silky-soft strands.

“My poor, innocent, 15-year-old ears,” gasps Rhyme, holding a hand to their chest in mock-shock. They’re careful not to fall off their perch on the back of the couch, legs dangling above Shiki.

Popcorn levitates in the air, ambling about, before hitting Rhyme in the face. “ _You’re_ the one that suggested the R-rated horror movie. I don’t think you get to play angel after that,” Josh says.

They catch the popcorn and pop it in their mouth. “I figured that when everyone screams, Beat’ll wake up and pay attention. Do that again and I’m stealing the popcorn bowl.”

“I’d listen, if I were you. They’ll use their puppy-eyes, and nobody can resist those,” Shiki chimes in. She’s got a sewing project in hand. From what Josh has seen, he thinks it’s going to be a stuffed fox, with purple headphones on. He’d gotten a snow-leopard with a feather on a necklace the week before.

“Back to the point at hand, Josh, _why_?” Neku wriggles his feet, doing the best imitation of a kick he can while being sat on.

“Like you have any space to argue, you’re doing pencil sketches!” Josh waves at the sketchpad propped up on his knees.

“The light from your phone is distracting. And don’t wave your hands like that. If you mess up my art I’ll stab you with a pencil.”

Josh doesn’t doubt the threat. He’s had minor puncture wounds, long-healed by now, from past ignorance. “Give my your tangle and I’ll put it away. I’m just playing a stimmy game.”

Neku sighs, and rolls his eyes, but he takes the tangle out of his pocket and puts it on top of Josh’s neck. It’s got different textures, different bumps based on the color of the piece: blue and pink, yellow and black, green and white. “You got me that as a gift just so you could steal it from me, repeatedly.”

“I will neither confirm nor deny this statement.” He shuts his phone, putting it on do-not-disturb. If there’s a UG problem, Hanekoma gets to deal with it. Especially if it’s Minamimoto again.

Adjusting his grip on his pencil, Neku smiles, looking at his current project again. A picture of everyone, sitting as they are now. He’ll go back and redo it, later. Full color, dynamic lighting from the TV, but for now…

For now, Neku draws his family in shades of grey, and smiles at the peace of the scene he’s captured. Peace not broken by the occasional gasp, jump, or shriek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Found family is my jam and as a queer autistic I can confirm that if you're queer you can't sit normally, and if you're autistic you can't either, so it's only natural that this queer neurodivergent mess of people would be a pile on the couch. 
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	4. Day 4: Candy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lifehack: you can't die from allergies if you're already dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for Joshua's stupid risk-taking ass eating something he used to be allergic to?

“Hey! Hey! Mr. H! I just thought of something!” Joshua says, bouncing into the shop.

Sanae looks up at him from his place at the counter. There’s no Game running, and he was content to have a quiet day in WildKat. But a bubbly Josh never makes for a quiet day.

“What did you think up, kiddo?” he asks, because there’s no point trying to guess, and no point ignoring the topic at hand.

He may be dead, but he swears his pulse pounds in double-time at his ears when he sees Josh take out a peanut-butter cup. Before a single word can leave his mouth, before a shout can pass his lips, Joshua unwraps the thing and pops it into his mouth. Whole.

Sanae’s mind replays the image of Joshua, eleven years old, collapsing after being given coffee with peanut-butter flavoring in it, because Hanekoma hadn’t known. Choking on the ground, unable to breathe, one step from death’s door. Joshua’s tether to life had frayed, nearly snapped in that moment.

So when he stuffs the candy in his mouth, Sanae panics.

“Josh, what the fuck!?” he says, an epipen appearing in his hand as he teleports to the other side of the counter.

Swallowing, Josh laughs. He wheezes. But he doesn’t choke. There’s no allergy attack, no swelling, no hives. “I’m dead! Remember? I figured it out! I can’t die of allergies if I’m already dead!”

Dread settles in his stomach, a sinking stone meeting the bottom of a pristine lake. Maybe he should be relieved, but the trickling stream feeding the lake leaves him cold, unsettled. 

“Right, of course. I should’ve realized that.” He tousles Joshua’s hair, epipen disappearing into thin air. “So, what’d you think?”

“Everyone lied," he says with a pout. "It’s decent, but definitely an experience I could’ve lived without.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stole the whole "not that good" thing from a friend whom has consumed stuff they're allergic to before stating that about how overhyped it all is. Love u kimiko. U don't read my twewy fics tho so you'll like never see this lol
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	5. Day 5: Haunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neku is super lucky, besides all those pesky near-death experiences! At least he has a ghost to watch out for him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for guns and near-death experiences.

Neku is being haunted.

After what he’d been through, he shouldn’t have been so quick to doubt the idea, but the odd noises, the slight shift of objects? He chalked it up to an overactive imagination. He could still see the UG, after all, if someone were playing tricks on him from there, he’d know.

Until a truck driver doesn’t look while Neku’s crossing the road, and the only thing that saves him is Joshua flickering into view, mouth open in a silent shout of _Neku_! Static screaming in his ears as he’s pushed backward, out of the way, falling to the ground.

The asphalt stings his palms, but the safety-pin punctures don’t compare to the stab wound in his heart when he looks up and Josh isn’t there.

 

The second time, muggers with pointy blades and strong muscles have him cornered in an alley. It’s dark out, he shouldn’t have been out so late, but the hangout had run later than planned.

This time, Joshua appears in front of him, violet eyes burning, a fire raging within as he snaps his fingers, soundless and yet the static reaches Neku’s ears, and makes the attackers drop unconscious.

“They’re not hurt, right?” he asks, before he can choose anything else to say.

Josh gives a wordless shake of his head, and Neku’s reaching out to grab his wrist when he vanishes.

 

Neku was never very lucky before his death, but after it? At a glance, his luck had changed. The things he wanted were always on sale, people liked him, he managed to find random yen everywhere, his favorite songs always played on the radio. Like Shibuya was saying _here, you deserve some good stuff._

There’s just the little problem of all the times he almost dies.

 

The third time, he’s staring down the barrel of a gun. His veins turn to lead, his breath stalls in his lungs, eyes wide at the man before him. Terror clenching his heart like a metal clamp freezes him in place. He can’t grab his wallet, can’t move to give into demands.

 _Joshua, please. If you’re listening, if you’re out there, help me_ , he thinks, loud as he can. The only thought bouncing in his head as the safety clicks off.

The gun clicks.

No shot is fired.

Joshua stands at his side, one hand wrapped around the gun, a wild grin on his face. “Sorry, but I think your bullets _may_ have been compromised.” In his other hand, he holds out the cartridge.

His face falls, turning stone cold as he speaks with such force that Neku knows it _has_ to be an Imprint. “ **[Leave Shibuya. Leave Shibuya and do not return.]** ”

Joshua stays to watch the man flee, which gives Neku enough time to grip his wrist, a vice refusing to budge an inch. “ _[Stay.]_ ”

He spits the word, refusing to let it choke him by staying knotted in his throat. It flies from his mouth, and Neku swears he saw Joshua flinch, saw him try to leave. But he remained rooted to that spot, held in the eye of Neku’s emotional storm.

Lightning crackles, somewhere, and it takes a moment for Neku to realize he’s been electrocuting Josh.

“Tell me what’s going on. Tell me, and _stop running away_.”

Josh laughs, using his free hand to run his fingers through his hair. “I was restricted from RG access for a bit, but the border between realms is thinner whenever death draws near. But then you called out to me, and I used that to tether myself on _both_ ends, and I _maaaay_ have just punctured reality a bit to get here. Needle-sized hole, I swear!”

“You’re… not flickering,” he murmurs. “And I can hear you. I couldn’t before, is that why?”

Josh nods. “Oh Neku, so clever of you! Yes, that’s exactly why.”

“Why do I keep almost-dying, anyway? Is it your fault?” he asks, because if there’s someone to blame, it’s probably Josh.

“Mm, no… Well,” he sighs. “Yes? _Maybe_. Indirectly!”

“Explain.”

“Can I have my hand back?” Neku doesn’t answer, staring him down instead. “Okay, guess not. Best to put it simply, then: You’re kinda the Conductor, and the universe hates the fact that you’re alive, so it’s trying to fix that.”

_What the fuck?_

“What the fuck.”

He must’ve dropped Josh’s wrist from the shock, because Josh uses the hand to pat Neku on the shoulder. “It’s not so bad. You’re like, unofficial. You haven’t been appointed it formally, so it’s not like you have any work or anything, it just means you’re the default Conductor and there’s nobody else I can find to fill the vacancy.”

Neku wants to scream, shout his throat raw about how unfair this is, how he shouldn’t be relegated a UG position when he worked so hard to get his life back, but…

If he doesn’t have to do anything… If he can stay alive… If it means he can see Josh…

“Just make sure I don’t die, or I’ll kill you.”

Josh laughs, free as a bird as he smiles up at Neku. “No, you won’t! But I promise I’ll always be here to make sure you’re fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 minutes until Midnight so this counts as making it for the day!!! Playin fast and loose here with HCs and a coherent timeline.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	6. Day 6: Orange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua isn't fond of his new hair color. Neku and Shibuya are never allowed to be in cahoots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for nonconsensual hair dyeing.

“Neku.”

“Yes, Josh?” Neku replies, not looking up from his sketchbook.

“Neku.”

“That is my name, what do you want?” he asks. His smirk is hidden by the cowl of his shirt.

“Neku, _darling_ , would you care to explain something to me?”

Neku still doesn’t look up. “And what does the _great Composer of Shibuya_ possibly need explained?”

Joshua steps closer to the couch, and makes the pencil in his hand vanish.

“Hey!” He sits up, reaching out for something that no longer exists, as if to grab it back from the air.

With a dramatic sigh, Josh reaches forward, and tilts Neku’s chin up, so he gets a good look at his handiwork. “My beloved Conductor, could you tell me _why_ my hair is _orange_?”

Neku breaks.

Laughter fills the room as he wheezes, air stuck in his throat, as he tries to get more into his lungs. He has to cover his mouth, and he can’t stop the snorts. The weight of Joshua’s glare means _nothing_ against the sight of him with bright, pumpkin-orange hair.

When he gets his breath under control, after a few false-stops (looking at Josh had made him burst out for an aftershock of the original earthquake more than once), Neku says, “What, and here I thought you told me to practice my newfound power, so I could get the hang of it!”

“You know full well that this,” he gestures to the bedhead hair, “is not what I had in mind. My perfect, _beautiful_ hair! And you go and make it _unseemly_. While I was _resting_.”

“Shibuya was _very_ encouraging! She thought it’d be a great idea!” he says, rolling his eyes. Joshua could be so _dramatic_ sometimes.

“Betrayed, by my friend and my city! What a travesty! My heart can’t take it!” He holds his hand to his chest, falling backwards onto the couch, letting out a loud gasp.

“Be glad I didn’t leave it green.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: What should I do for the prompt orange?  
> Hinami: What if Josh's hair becomes orange?  
> Me: omg perfect either way he pisses Neku off.  
> Me: _wait what if Neku does it to him_
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	7. Day 7: Afterlife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiki needs to know about the recent revelation. Neku _sees._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if there's any warnings uh. Future sight? Shiki is angery.

“Hey Shiki,” Neku says, “I have something I need to tell you.”

“Hmm?” She looks up from her sewing project, up into the tree where he’s sitting. “What is it, Neku?”

He sighs. He’s sitting on the lowest branch, he’d been swinging his legs and sketching, but… This conversation might be best if he were a bit more grounded, so he hops down, and sits cross-legged near her.

“I talked to Joshua recently, and--”

Her expression darkens, her needle stabs the stuffed animal with force. “He finally stuck around, then? Did he apologize for _shooting you_ yet?”

Neku shakes his head. “No, not yet, but--”

“Do you want me to fight him? Because I’ll punch him in the face if you want,” she says, and the glint in her eyes tells him she means it. The god of the afterlife holds no match against the fire burning in her eyes.

“No, no, it’s fine. Listen, he told me why I’ve been having all those near-death experiences, the ones he’s _saved me from_ , if you remember, and…”

A breath. He steels his nerves, rubbing his head. He wishes he had an easy-out, a _nevermind_ so he could conversationally backflip away from the topic, but alas. Nothing.

“I am, for all intents and purposes, the current Conductor.”

“What the fuck?” Shiki stares at him, eyes wide, hands frozen in the air as she tries to process this information.

He twists the tip of one of his hair spikes between his fingers. “I’m still alive, which the universe doesn’t like. After what happened to Megumi, apparently Shibuya _picked me_ and decided I’d be the best person to fill the role. There’s nobody else Josh can sub in yet, but once there is, he’s promised I won’t have to keep the _job_ ,” he puts air-quotes around the word. “It’s going to be in title only, I won’t have to do any of the work and as long as I avoid dying, I’m fine.”

She’s still staring. Her eyes hold a glint of metal, a knife ready to manifest and protect. And Neku can _feel_ it now, one plane up the ripples she makes, searing red. There’s a thread that still binds her to Mr. Mew, and the piggy would spring to life if she had a target to aim him at. The sequence plays out in front of him, a future that will-not-be, breaking reality.

And then he’s opening his eyes and looking at the sky, flat on his back.

Shiki is kneeling at his side, hands hovering useless in the air above him. “Oh my god, Neku, are you alright? What just happened? Does this have something to do with _him_?” he snarls the name. “Or whatever bullshit comes with being Conductor?”

The rambling breaks through the static pounding in his brain, the drums battering his skull like a marching band in a library.

“I think… I think I just saw something?” he groans, sitting up. Shiki helps him, and steadies him by leaning him against the tree.

“What did you see?” she asks.

“The… Future? I think I saw the future. Or, something that could’ve been the future. A maybe. Might-have-been. Not this future.” He leans back, and the _life_. He can feel life pulsing in the tree, in the earth beneath him. The city _breathes_ and he breathes with it.

“How do you know it’s not this future?” Shiki sits at his side, and lets him lean against her shoulder too. She pulses in time with the world, like he does, but when he rests there, inhaling and exhaling and trying to calm the thunder in his head, he realizes.

She can’t feel it.

He’s known people don’t hear the Music. But this Pulse is new to him, from after the Game, so _of course_ people who haven’t played wouldn’t feel it. But Shiki is so in-sync, flows with it, that she can’t feel the pounding beneath their feet. The same pounding now cracking at his skull.

He’s a step out of beat, removed from the stream.

“I… I just do. It would’ve happened in that moment, if it was meant to be this future. Whatever the fuck caused that, though, it gave me a _wicked_ headache.”

“Any way I can help with that?” Shiki asks, wrapping an arm around him. She’s warm.

“Nah, not really, but I’m not gonna be great at talking right now. Something distracting might be nice.” He pauses, closes his eyes and thinks.

“You could ramble about Eri and how _cute_ she is, and how much you love her if you want,” he says with a grin.

“I should push you for that,” she says, and he can feel her glare.

“But you won’t. Because I’ve got a migraine, and you’ll take any chance to be gay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: "Ok so I was typing and I wrote rubbing his heads. Like apparently Neku has two heads!"  
> [Hinami](http://cavesalamander.tumblr.com/): "bold of you to assume it's only two heads."
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	8. Day 8: Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eri is no fool, Shiki's become secretive now, and she wants the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: Suicide mention (not actual suicide). Vague dysphoria mention because Shiki is a trans girl and you can't change my mind. That good gay shit.

“You know, Shiki, it’s weird. I don’t think you ever told me how you met Neku and all the others,” Eri says. “Or why you’re so mad about this Joshua dude tagging along now.”

She’s not oblivious. Eri is no fool. She knows something is up.

Shiki is secretive now. More confident, but secretive. She and Neku _aren’t_ dating, she’s figured that out, but he… He was there for her, they have a bond that she and Shiki don’t share.

Eri shouldn’t let the jealousy coil around her heart like a vile snake, but she was Shiki’s friend first! That had to count for _something_.

Instead, Shiki keeps secrets, and she’s so _close_ to Neku and Beat and Rhyme now.

“It’s… A bit of a story. Honestly, I don’t even know if you’d believe me,” she laughs, forced, huffed out.

“Oh come on, like I’d doubt you!” She looks up from her current design-work, grinning at Shiki.

A memory slithers beneath the surface of her brain, from the last time she let Shiki doubt herself. Slime refusing to stick, slipping away when she tries to hold it tight.

~~The terror as she texts. She calls. All in a vain hope the news is wrong. An accident. A careless accident. Shiki just forgot to look while she crossed the street, the driver didn’t stop. There was so much blood.~~

 “Well,” Shiki sighs. “I--I don’t know if I _should_. Or if… If I’m _allowed_.”

Shiki makes a decision then. _Fuck it_.

If something were against the rules, she should’ve been told. Plausible deniability, they were negligent in their duties to keep her informed after the Game.

“ _Allowed_? Is someone threatening you?” Eri’s voice spikes two octaves higher with the panic. “Did something happen to you?”

“Eri,” Shiki whispers, placing her hand on top of Eri’s, “ _I died_.”

The words cut. They slice the slime, the sludge that kept the true memories at bay.

Three weeks.

 _Oh my god, three weeks_.

Numb and tired weeks, drifting, a piece of her _missing_.

“ _You died_.” Her voice cracks, snaps. Her hands cover her mouth as tears prickle at the edges of her eyes. “Oh my god, _you were dead_.”

“It’s okay, really!” Shiki says. “Listen, yeah, I died, but it’s complicated. And I’m alive now, see?” She guides Eri’s hand to the pulse-point on her neck.

Shiki’s heart beats strong, pumping on.

“I went to your _funeral_.” Shiki had been _cremated_. “How--?”

Shiki wraps her arms around Eri, and pulls her close, into a hug. “There’s this thing, it’s called the Reaper’s Game, and when you die, you might get to play it. They take an Entry Fee, something you value a lot, and you only get it back if you win. You have to Partner up with someone, and survive for seven days. Complete missions, fight things, it’s… It was a lot to go through. Neku was my Partner, and Beat was Rhyme’s, and we played during the same week at first.”

Eri sits there, absorbing this.

It wasn’t a nightmare, it had been reality. She’d lost Shiki. Pushed her away with one wrong sentence, Shiki, made of glass, shattering from her voice. Rivulets of blood outlining the cracks in her skin.

She chokes back a sob, leaning her head against Shiki’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault and I’m so sorry.”

Fingers run through her hair as Shiki sighs. “I was just an idiot who didn’t look when I crossed the street. It’s not your fault, Eri. I was upset, yeah, but… You didn’t cause my death. You helped me _live_.”

When Eri a small _huh_ noise and looks up at her, Shiki continues: “The Game takes place on a plane above ours, like, stacked on top, and I could look and hear you, but you couldn’t see me. Not that you would’ve…”

“What is it?” She sits up, and wraps her arm around Shiki, pulling her closer now that it’s her turn to comfort.

“My Fee, it was my appearance. I was so _jealous_ that they made me look like you. And I thought, hey, this seemed alright at first, the type of body I’d always wanted, but-- But it wasn’t _right_ , and I couldn’t just pretend to be you, and,” Shiki’s breath stutters, ”I wanted my own body back, because this is who _I am_. I don’t need to act like you to be more of a girl, I already am one.”

Shiki brushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It helped me figure that out, and… I figured out not all of it was jealousy, too. I mean, that’s not the only reason I admired your body.”

 _Oh_. Shiki is _blushing_. Not looking up at Eri, cheeks painted red, and Eri knows by the fire burning at her skin her cheeks must match.

She’d missed her shot once, she won’t do it again. By some miracle of the universe, Shiki was with her, warm against her skin, and she resolves to _never_ let her feel the way she did before.

Eri holds Shiki, broken shards remade into stained glass, her cheek is soft and there are no edges that cut. She’s stronger now, she dazzles the room like a disco ball, lighting up the world and reflecting energy back at others when it’s shared with her.

Eri is no fool.

Shiki’s lips don’t cut like broken glass, either. They hold firm against her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: How gay should this be?  
> [Hinami](http://cavesalamander.tumblr.com/): super gay.  
> Me: Ok but like should they kiss?  
> [Mutie](http://mootablemimic.tumblr.com/): oh definitely.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	9. Day 9: Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua's parents were _not_ good people. But they recognize their child's face, when he hasn't aged a day since he was placed in a casket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mentions of transphobia, abusive and neglectful parents, and suicide.

“No.”

Neku freezes in his place, after trying to help Josh up when the idiot ran into someone. (Seriously, what did he think would happen when he placed all his attention on Neku and none on where he was going? Sure he’s the Composer, but that doesn’t grant complete immunity to bumping into people).

“ _No_ ,” Josh says again, staring up at the person he ran into. The people. The couple in front of them.

The man and woman, who now look like they’ve seen a ghost.

The temperature drops by ten degrees, and his breath comes out in a cloudy puff. Lightning sparks on his edges, crackling through his hair, as white fire dances on his fingertips, _burning, aching to consume_.

“Joshua! You’re _alive?_ How--? What--?” the woman says, taking a step forward with arms outstretched, looming. A bear trap intent on digging her spikes into him.

“I am very much _not_ alive,” Joshua says, and Neku notes how he’s stepped to the front, how his arms are raised to protect, palms faced outward. “I’d let you feel for a pulse, but you’d find none, and I’d rather the both of you never touch me again. In fact, you being in Shibuya at all is too close to me! Get. Out.”

Joshua’s voice sends shivers down Neku’s spine. The cold steel, the razorblades lining it, sharp and ready to cut these two well-dressed adults. Adults who look like they have _power_ in this world.

Neku grabs one of his arms, pulling him a step back. “Josh, what the hell is going on? Who are these people?” he asks, voice low. The arm he holds trembles, shakes. So tense, like he’s holding something back, caging something _in_ , not fighting to keep something out.

Maybe these people are Angels? Josh has never shown much love for them. _Though if they were Angels, why would they assume Josh is alive?_

The smile that lights up Joshua’s face is _cold_ , it’s _wrong_. Hollow, sharpened teeth ready to bite and tear. When he speaks, his voice drips with sarcasm, a faucet on full blast. “Ah, you never got to meet them before, Neku. You now have to _pleasure_ of meeting reasons number one and two for why my childhood was so _hellish_ that I’d point a _gun at my head_ and pull the trigger!”

It’s false. It’s all _false_ , the way he’s laughing, the way the air ignites with energy as he moves, the way he’s poised, ready to fight at the slightest hint of movement. “They were always too busy to come visit me! Tried to hire people to _fix_ me, when it turned out their _son_ didn’t fit the impossibly perfect standards they had, deeming _him_ broken in more ways than one!”

_(“When I became Composer, I changed people’s perceptions of me. I made sure they forgot my deadname, what I was assigned, and made sure it got my parents too.” Words spoken ages ago, two years past, float to mind.)_

Joshua is _scared_. A cornered animal, ready to lash out, teeth bared. Only, his bite is bigger than his bark, if he gets there. His voice lashes like a whip, barbed wire embedding itself in his parents’ skin.

They flinch, terror leaping in their eyes as Josh tries to step closer.

Neku steps back, pulling Josh with him. “We need to get out of here, Josh. I don’t like what this is doing to you,” he says, voice soft. Gentle. He can’t heal years of pain, scars cutting through his heart, but he can get Josh out before the wounds reopen.

Josh’s face melts, anger fading away as he nods.

With a final pointed glare at his parents, Joshua hisses, “You’re lucky I want to be better than you. Leave Shibuya now, and _don’t return_.”

A deep-rooted Imprint, burying itself in their hearts like arrowheads, hooks they can’t rip out without shredding themselves to pieces, and Neku _feels_ it take root, sees the arrow fire from Josh and strike true.

Turning to face Neku, Josh squeezes his hand, and teleports them away. Back to Josh’s apartment.

By the time Neku has recovered from the sudden relocation, Joshua has curled up in a ball on the couch, knees tucked in as he trembles, shivers running across his body. His face is hidden, but Neku can hear the sniffs.

Neku sits.

“Can I touch you?” he asks, holding out an arm.

Instead of replying, Joshua tilts over, and buries his face in Neku’s shirt, arms clinging tight. Neku can roll with this, though. He reaches up and runs his fingers through Joshua’s hair, slow and soothing.

He lets Josh cry.

Josh cries like a torrent of tears can’t wait to escape his body, like the flow of his shaking needs to be released in the form of water, like he’s never had a chance to cry on someone’s shoulder before.

As the shaking and tears subside, Josh murmurs, “Sorry,” so soft Neku almost doesn’t catch it.

He does though, and he huffs. “It’s fine. I’m here for you.” Maybe he should’ve punched Josh’s parents in the face when he had the chance, but with Joshua turning all the frequencies to static, with echoes of wings splayed out from his back, it was obvious. Being there wouldn’t have done him any good, even if it meant revenge.

“I’m so afraid… I don’t want to end up like them… I threatened _living people_ like a monster,” Josh is babbling. “I could’ve hurt someone, could’ve hurt _you_. I was just so… _Vindictive_.”

Neku shushes him, and shakes his head, rubbing circles on Josh’s back. “It was a bit scary, I guess, but I was scared _for_ you, not _of_ you. You’re not the monster, Josh; they are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adapted from an rp with the lovely [Hinami](http://cavesalamander.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	10. Day 10: Dress-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of that good good "we ain't cis" bonding time between Josh and Rhyme.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Features mentions of unsafe binding

“Hey, how long have you been wearing your binder?”

Rhyme looks up from their homework, glancing at Josh. “Not too long, don’t worry.”

He’s sitting on top of the back of the couch, while they lay on their stomach, legs kicking the air behind them.

Josh sighs. “I only ask, because I’m assuming you wore it through school, which is a solid eight hours at _least_. And it’s been an hour since then, and adding in the time before class started… Ten? Eleven hours total? You should probably take it off.”

They frown. It’s true. His math is spot on, and he assumed right. They _are_ feeling a bit sore… “It’s really not that bad, right?”

“ _Rhyme_ ,” he says. “Listen. Improper binding can fuck you up, take it from me. First binder I used? I broke a rib. Second one? While I was alive I wore it all the time and literally lowered my lung capacity.”

“I know the dangers, you know,” they mutter. But he’s right. “ _Fine_ though, you win. I’ll go change.”

As they stand, he tosses a package at them. “Take this with ya’. A gift.”

They catch it, a gift-bag with a bit of tissue hiding the contents. “Thanks, I’ve always wanted a bag and some colorful tissue paper,” they deadpan, and he laughs.

“ _Rhyme_ , go change. I’m sure the stuff _in_ the bag will be more exciting than the bag.”

Scurrying their room to change, they look inside it, and find an assortment of items. The biggest, a new shirt, is clearly from Shiki, a rainbow infinity symbol on the front. After taking off their binder and school clothes, they try it on, and it fits perfectly, a little baggy, which is how they like it.

There’s also a black spinner ring, which fits on their middle finger. They put it on the right hand.

A couple of hair clips, heart designs with the aromantic and asexual colors adorning them. Earrings with pink, white, and blue interconnected circlets. They put it all on.

And a button that says _I’m the rainbow squirrel of the family_ , with a rainbow squirrel beneath the words.

They laugh, pinning it to the front of their shirt, before stepping back out.

Josh takes one look at them and grins. “So, what do you think of the queer dress-up attire?”

“I love it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I have a pin that reads "I'm the rainbow sheep of the family" and it's fuckin awesome.
> 
> Pls bind safely yall!!!! Stretch, give yourself a break if you need to! Don't wear it too long! Make sure it fits! Don't give yourself heatstroke because you wore a shitty $5 binder that by all means should've broken a rib to a summer con at a college campus!
> 
> (If you ever want/need tips on binding or resources you can always hmu! Either here or on tumblr!) This has been a PSA.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	11. Day 11: Fancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Neku regrets his choices. This is not one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically just kissing and Neku being dressed fancy.

“Come on, Neku, you can’t hide forever. We have a party to go to,” Josh calls, knocking on his door.

“ _Why_ do I have to go to this, again?” Neku asks. He’s already dressed in a purple tux with an orange undershirt. Shiki and Eri had insisted on dressing him up, painting his nails, and stealing his headphones.

“Because, I want to show you off to all the other Composers!” Josh says, and Neku can _hear_ the grin on his face, the bounce in his step. “You accepted the job position, which means I can take you to exclusive events!”

“Just because I _died_ again doesn’t mean I accepted it.” Except it does, because Joshua had offered to bring him back again, and he’d sighed, and looked at how tired Josh was, with the bags under his eyes, and said _Nah, I’ll stick around_.

He’d been considering it for a while. Helping Josh with some paperwork a couple years back had been the first step. Easy enough to do, no Erasure or planning necessary, just filling out forms. And then he’d helped with processing the new Players, ensuring Entry Fees were right, and not too debilitating, giving them a fair chance.

Doing art, graffitiing the walls of Shibuya and taking commissions, it was the way he dreamed of living. Now he got to dream of doing it while dead. Leaving hadn’t been in the plan anyway.

Now he plans missions and helps Josh. He’s taken the load off of Joshua’s shoulders, and onto his own, but it’s not so bad. He doesn’t Erase people directly, even if he has to process the deaths.

Whatever Josh might think, he did _not_ sign up for parties filled with other Composers and Conductors.

Before he can protest again, Joshua pops into the room and pulls him down into a kiss, using the tie.

Neku lets out a little _eep!_ But rolls his eyes, pulling back after a moment. “You’re using underhanded tactics.”

Joshua laughs, slinging his arms around Neku’s neck. “ _Darling_ , why would you assume something so silly as me not using any tricks up my sleeves?”

He rolls his eyes. “More like _hoped_ , but I figured you’d try something.”

“Mm,” Josh kisses him again, and he’s a _cheater_. Levitating five inches to make them the same height is totally cheating.

He can’t bring himself to care though, wrapping his arms around Josh and leaning in.

It’s short and sweet, and when Josh pulls back, he places Neku’s headphones back in their proper place around his neck.

“I figured you’d want these. Shiki’s intent was nice, but they make the look. CAT headphones? Super fancy.”

And okay, maybe he did sign up for this. Seeing Joshua’s goofy grin makes him smile back. He cares about Josh, and Joshua cares about him too. The weight of his headphones reassures him that yes, he’s made the right decision.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWEWY TOMORROW FINAL REMIX TOMORROW HYPE YALLL!!!!!!!
> 
> This was written while watching battlebots so it's not my usual quality lol
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	12. Day 12: Mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wears a mask like he wears his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> death mentioned.

He wears a mask like he wears his skin. Layers of paper mache turned solid against his face, coating his body, a shell to hide behind. Each time someone gets close, he adds another layer.

Neku can see right through them.

Neku chips away at Josh’s mask, letting chunks fall away, crumbling to dust on the floor.

Joshua doesn’t have time to construct new layers as Neku breaks through his barriers. Every soft touch, every piercing glare, every quiet night where he sleeps over, peeling back layers long dried.

And then Neku dies.

 

Preparing for the worst means adding on more layers. Wet, messy, it hasn’t dried yet. There’s flour and glue hidden behind his back and fresh layers added on as he confronts the inevitable anger from Neku.

 

(Neku laughs, and cleans up the mess with a kiss.  _ Being Conductor won’t be so bad _ , after all.)

 

Without the mask, his skin feels fresh. Air breezes back, and his body can  _ breathe _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a day late because I've already got 20 hrs on my copy of twewy and I've beaten A New Day.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	13. Day 13: Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elysium fills his lungs. Magic sings through Neku’s veins as he steps into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for like, minor metaphorical body horror?

“So. You accept the role of Conductor?” Josh asks him, and Neku nods.

“I do,” Neku says. 

Joshua  _ hums _ . His body vibrates as he steps to the center of the Room of Reckoning. The air shimmers, shifts, twists. His figure grows, eyes piercing the veil of white plasma that mists in the space between them.

“Step forward, Neku.” Joshua’s voice echoes, ricocheting off the walls and emanating from everywhere at once. He  _ is _ Shibuya, and this is her heart.

Neku takes one last breath, unnecessary because he’s already dead. 

One measured step.

Another.

Into the light.

 

Elysium fills his lungs. Silver light hangs heavy on his skin, dew soaking in. Needles stab his Soul, his flesh, sewing him into Shibuya, knitting him into its fabric, strings of interwoven Music stitched into his own, strung along, wound tight, wires cutting into his brain, bleeding him dry, slicing through him like cheese and it’s magic, it’s electric, it’s fire consuming him and

He exhales.

The rubber band around his brain snaps back, rebound rubbing at his head, and he’s tilted on his side, concrete floor cold beneath him. 

A hand runs through his hair, and he  _ hears _ . 

The magic sings through his veins, the blood intertwined with Music, mixed and mingled. 

“Neku, you okay?” Joshua asks, and it’s like fighting an elephant Noise, mustering the energy to speak.

Fighting the Noise, but with maxed stats halfway through.

“Ugh. Mm, I’m… That was… A lot. Definitely a lot at once. But I think I’m fine?” He sits up, careful not to move too fast and fall back over. But if he ever did, Josh would be there to catch him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wheeeeeeee caught up
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	14. Day 14: Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghosts hang in the windows.

WildKat lights up the night, though the door says closed. If any passerby were to look in they’d see teenagers sprawled over the booths and on top of counters, and one middle-aged man watching on with a fond exasperation.

Inside the sound-proofed barrier, Halloween music blares.

“Why did you kids need to host your party here, anyway?” Hanekoma asks.

“Cuz, this place is always _dead_ , so we thought it’d fit the theme,” Josh replies from his spot cross-legged on the nearby table. “And you’re basically the dad here, so you let us.”

He pops a Butterfinger into his mouth, and even after all this time, Sanae still has to quell the instinctual panic of seeing Josh eat something with peanuts. “I swear, you do that on purpose.”

Josh throws a Jolly Rancher he’s pretty sure didn’t exist two seconds before at him. “Oh lighten up! Live a little!”

Neku snorts, stomach in Josh’s lap as he lays on him and the table, doodling spiders in his sketchbook. “Stop teasing him, dude.”

Shiki laughs. “You’re all _awful_ ,” she says, leaning against the wall with her feet up on the booth, Eri asleep on top of her. “Don’t make me laugh too hard, or she’ll wake up. It’s been a tough week on her.”

“What better place to have a Halloween party than a store that caters to the dead, run by a dead person though?” Rhyme asks, stuffing a cookie in their mouth, handing another off to Beat, both sitting at a round table in the center.

Ghosts hang in the windows, and fake spiderwebs coat the backs of chairs and corners. There’s a pumpkin on the cash register.

It’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	15. Day 15: Not Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alone is a terrifying thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for mentions of creepy dudes and suicide.

Alone.

Alone is a terrifying thing. Being fourteen and gripping the pocketknife in your hand, walking the streets with ever-watchful eyes in case someone decides you’re his next target. Feminine physique not an advantage, never a blessing, not for you. Binders and short hair only do so much against the terror lurking in your heart the first time a man three times your age whistles and calls you _Darlin’._

Alone is sitting on your bed at fifteen, turning the gun over in your hand. It’s staring out the window, looking down at the people flowing below. Always crushed together, but never _together_. Separated in body and mind.

Alone is staring down into the world, poison from your veins infecting the city you wish you could love. You wish you could love something, _anything_ , but it eats at your heart, shreds the muscle fiber and spits out the remains until the bleeding trail of tears dries up and paints the pavement red.

 

A hand slips into place with yours.

 

Music intertwines, notes wrapping around each other as fingers slot together. A warm heart beats against your chest, arms hugging tighter.

Body shaking as gentle hands piece it back together, sewing the ripped seams of skin and patching you up so your stuffing stops falling out, so you stop tearing yourself apart.

 _Not alone_. Not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catchin up yall! 15-17 go up tonight!
> 
> My life was hell the past week
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	16. Day 16: Eww!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literal city god vs one (1) cockroach, who will win?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cockroach involved. Death of insect involved.

“Ew! Gross, get it away!”

Neku stares at Joshua.

Josh, who is levitating two feet off the ground, floating backward slowly to get away from a cockroach.

“Are you telling me, seriously, that the _literal god of Shibuya_ , is afraid of a bug?”

Josh shoots him a glare. “They’re creepy, okay? Creepy crawly things, and I _hate_ them.”

Neku sighs, restraining the laugh that wants to burst forth. “Toss me some toilet paper and I’ll smush it for you.”

A roll immediately appears in his hands with flash of white, and Neku bunches some up. His reflexes are still honed, lightning fast, as he smashes the bug into slimy guts, and wipes it up.

Tossing the remains in a trash can, he grabs Josh’s hand and pulls him to the ground. “So, how do you survive, knowing all the _creepy crawlys_ that live in Shibuya? I mean, with your connection to the city, surely you feel it all?” he asks with a smirk.

Josh scowls, and punches him in the arm. “I literally hate you.”

“No you don’t.” He smiles, dragging Josh along.

“Why would you say that?”

“Because it’s fun to watch you squirm. You owe me sunshine for making me do that, though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The light of a city weighs heavy on his Soul.
> 
> (Neku holds a city in his arms.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for self-injury and sensory overload, and like, ow, Josh, pls don't do that it hurts I mean I get being overloaded but OW

The moment he opens his eyes, met with neon and fluorescent lights blaring and a thousand feet pounding the pavement in his head, he knows it’s going to be a Bad Day™.

A hundred songs fill his head, ten thousand voices chatter away, garbled and thrown through a blender and all he can do is try to parse it out and claw at his ears as sirens blare and horns pierce the air. Gas fumes, bleach, ramen, and decaying animal carcasses not yet picked clean, all of it clogging his nose and burning his lungs, eating his skin.

Tires scorch his skin, leaving phantom skid marks in their wake. Static builds in his head, energy and electricity storming until it comes crashing to the ground in a downpour of rain and flashes of lightning on this sunny day. Phones buzzing, fabric rubbing, papers shuffling, styrofoam echoing in his brain.

He’s not a person. Doesn’t know his own name. Doesn’t have his own name.

Shibuya is him.

He’s a city trapped in a human body, multitudes folded in on itself. A city pulled tight like a second skin around him, too tight, constricting, not capable of holding it all in. Tearing at his skin, nails cutting until he bleeds, biting his thumb and trying to crack his head but there’s just pillows, the wall is too far to bang against.

He can’t contain it all. The light of a city weighs heavy on his Soul.

 

(Neku walks in. Neku wraps his arms around him. Holds him and whispers his name, _“Joshua, it’s alright, I’m here_ ,” until the city in his brain calms.

Neku holds all of Shibuya in his arms, and Joshua knows his name.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO THIS WEEk
> 
> I had 3 interviews, a midterm, work mon-saturday, and I had to learn self-injection so doc office for 2 hrs cuz they slow and had 1 nurse on friday (plus side of the latter: I'm on T now)
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	18. Day 18: Supernatural

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TWEWY Unsolved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I blame [zoey (aka zillychu)](http://zillychu.tumblr.com/) for the idea.

“Please?”

“No.”

“Ok, but _please_?”

“No, Neku, I’m not helping you make a YouTube paranormal investigation series.”

“Josh, come on!” Neku says, bouncing on his toes. “You could do all the supernatural stuff! It’d be so cool!”

Joshua sighs, running a hand through his hair. It’s… _tempting_. But no. “It’d be a _huge_ abuse of my power as Composer! I can’t just… Do stuff like that! Secrecy laws!”

“Since when have you cared about laws? I’m sure you could loophole it.”

“No.”

 

 

Neku positions the camera, propped up in the Station Underpass on a tripod, and hits play.

“What’s up, ghosts, it’s me, ya boy! Today we’re looking into the mysterious frogs and the glowing figure rumored to haunt the Shibuya River!”

As if on cue, a pink frog with tattoo legs hops into view.

In the background, Joshua flickers into view, a white smudge against the grimy background, and a haunting violin refrain plays.

The frequency blurring him hides Joshua’s facepalming at all of Neku’s antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: what should I do for the supernatural prompt  
> zoey: the gang visits a haunted house, buzzfeed unsolved style  
> me: hmm idk I'm not good at writing pure humor  
> me: _wait ok variation on that_
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	19. Day 19: Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shadow haunts Shibuya's streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taboo stuff?

A shadow haunts Shibuya’s streets.

It lurks.

Corners turn to static, energy to void, Noise to silence. The edges of existence fizzle out, antimatter colliding with the reality of the universe, appearing to disappear, swallow whole the life that could be. Should be. 

It  _ burns _ .

Taboo infects the heart, tendrils of inky black coiling around his core. A stain not Erased from the UG. 

He should’ve seen it sooner, should’ve been able to hold himself together when the seams of his body were ripped to shreds. 

Joshua thinks he’s a goner, thinks Shibuya might fall apart. 

 

He doesn’t count on Neku stepping in. Erasing the Taboo.

Piecing him back together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so tiny omg
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	20. Day 20: Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neku deals with the consequences of having wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for major character death (mentioned). Also molting

“I apologize for ever making fun of you about this,” Neku says. “I’m in hell.”

Josh chuckles, lackluster, a flickering lightbulb, as he sits at Neku’s side, one of Neku’s feathered wings in his lap. “Apology accepted.”

“ _ Why _ does molting happen?” he groans.

“Because, when you go through a big change or important event, your Soul shifts.” Josh threads his hands through the feathers, plucking out the loose ones, careful to not damage anything as he massages the silly-putty surface beneath. “This was… big. So of course you’re going to shift. Wings will reflect that, and when it’s too much, they need to change dramatically.”

There’s no reply, Neku’s eyes closed as he relaxes for the first time in a week. His cheeks are still stained red from the tears that have fallen, tears he couldn’t hold back, no dam strong enough to withstand the torrent pounding within.

Joshua can feel his own wings itch, feathers trying to dislodge like the water that had spilled from his own eyes, but he’s using fingers to plug up the holes, duct-taping the cracks so the waterfall waits for another day. 

He can’t fix this, can’t avoid molting forever, but he has to help Neku first. Rhyme would probably tell him to stop putting others before himself, because the eventual damage will just be worse. He’s learned their advice in the past two decades, he’s learned to take it. Mostly.

But Rhyme isn’t here anymore.

Rhyme won’t ever be here anymore, and they have to survive with the ache in their heart of someone who died too soon. The youngest should never be the first to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. I got told to fuck off several times for this on a vc.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	21. Day 21: Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang gets a sign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings!

“So, what’s all this about?” Shiki asks, eyeing how Josh and Neku stand together in the center of the living room, while the rest of the gang has settled on the couch. “Why gather us all up?”

“Well, Neku and I were thinking,” Josh says, bouncing on his toes.

“It was Josh’s idea to start, but I like it,” Neku cuts in. “It’ll be fun!”

“What’s _it_ , though?” Beat asks, braiding Rhyme’s hair so he has something to fidget with.

“Since we’re all living together like this, it might be a good idea if… Maybe…” Neku nudges him in the stomach, and after he rolls his eyes, he continues. “Maybe it’d be a good idea if Neku and I taught you all sign language? At the very least fingerspelling? So if we go nonverbal or--”

“That’s a great idea!” Rhyme bounces up off the couch, hopping in place. “I’ve always wanted to learn, and you two would be great at teaching it!”

“Ooh, this sounds good. I’d love to learn!” Eri says, smiling from her seat.

“I’m down wit’ that!” Beat nods.

Shiki smiles, and raises her hands to sign [I think that’d be a good way to keep my memory fresh.]

The look on everyone but Eri’s face brings tears to her eyes as she laughs.

“What, you all didn’t know she could sign?” Eri asks. “She learned _ages_ ago!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALMOST CAUGHT UP
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	22. Day 22: Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A happy day, Beat's birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

Yellow.

Sunshine. Daffodils. Sunflowers.

Blonde hair hidden under a cap. Golden bell dangles from their neck.

A bright day, a happy day. It’s Beat’s birthday.

Yellow.

Faded paint, chipping away, an old Junker of a car. Brakes screeching as it comes to a halt too late.

 _Silly squirrel, you knew you couldn’t live forever_.

Shibuya welcomes them back with open arms, grabs tight and doesn’t let go. Radiant heat fills them within, as their consciousness is spread thin.

Bright summer day. The living take their body and turn it to ash. Set them free among the Shibuya river. Let tears flow free and join the waters. The full moon rises high that night, as Shibuya twists around their friends, their family.

 _You’ll never be alone again. One day they too shall join with you. With us_.

Yellow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit more on this!
> 
> I'm sorry?
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	23. Day 23: Web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The name Yoshiya Kiryu is well known, if you know how to search.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SERIOUS WARNING FOR SUICIDE DISCUSSION

When answers are lacking, Shiki turns to the web.

The internet, such a useful resource. It takes but a moment to plug in the name. She’s been in the dark long enough, she _needs_ to know this. It’s not an invasion of privacy if he’s left it there, if he told her his name, after all, right?

So she types:

_Yoshiya Kiryu._

 

_Kiryu Prodigy Found Dead._

_The body of 15-year-old Yoshiya Kiryu was found yesterday afternoon by his friend, with a gun in his hand._

_The teenager was best known for his stunning performances on the violin, and the compositions he would create. He also obtained perfect grades, and had plenty of extracurriculars he excelled at._

_His friend, who will remain unnamed, found his body in his apartment, having become concerned when Yoshiya did not show up for school or respond to texts. His body had been there for three days already._

_All evidence points to suicide, though the reason such a bright young boy would do such a thing is hard to see at the surface. Digging deeper, there’s a sinister edge:_

_…_

Shiki skims the article, horror pooling in her stomach. By the time it starts going into detail for reasons why, she’s stopped absorbing the information. _Neglect. Depression. Mental illness and neurological disorders._ The list keeps going, digging.

She closes the page. The browser.

She’ll ask Josh herself, sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The friend is Neku. Neku found Joshua's dead body.)
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	24. Day 24: Creature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Eri sees a frog, green with graffiti legs looking like it was filtered through a dirty window, at Hachiko, she screams and stumbles back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Metaphorical bullshittery is fun. Warning for that

Eri knows her friends are still haunted by the Reapers’ Game. They’re all still tied to it, in some form, unable to escape.

She’s heard their stories. Everything Joshua has done, all he put Neku through. Beat’s struggles as a Reaper, losing Rhyme. Rhyme, becoming Noise (pictures, rough sketches fill Neku’s art sometimes, she knows what they look like), becoming a person again, the instinct that lurks under the surface.

Knowing the facts, _believing them_ , still doesn’t take away from the impact of seeing it.

It comes in glimpses, flashes. There one moment, gone the next.

The first time she sees a frog, green with graffiti legs looking like it was filtered through a dirty window, at Hachiko, she screams and stumbles back.

It disappears the instant Josh follows her line of sight, but she can _see_ it dissolve into static.

Shiki rushes to her side, where she’d fallen to the ground. “Eri, are you okay?”

She nods, staring at the space where the creature was, ignoring the stinging of her palms. “I’m fine… I just… I thought I saw… Something.”

Josh tiptoes forward, closer, as Shiki helps her up. “If I may,” he says, reaching out. His hand stops, hovers in front of her forehead. “I could figure out what happened.”

Shiki moves to step in front of her, but Eri holds an arm out, stopping her. She nods to Josh. “Do it.”

His touch is gentle, featherlight. His warmth is a kind lie.

A bubble-barrier pops in her ears, and she _hears_.

Music. Shibuya. Flooding her. Cascading across her brain, slithering through her body, electric pulses and the slide of a violin bow against her bones. Only a splash, one bucket of water compared to the ocean it’s drawn from, separated by plastic walls. Isolated. Protecting her from the pull which would sweep her off her feet, drown her in the melody and dilute the crystal-clear water as she struggles to breathe, kicking up sand and scaring off fish until she’d become no more.

The hand pulls back, and she gasps for air. Inhaling the spring cold until her lungs are filled once more. Wind whips around her until the remnants of Shibuya are blown away, scattered to the wind instead of clinging to her skin.

(But droplets, residue, they remain, undeterred by the storm fighting to get them away.)

When she opens her eyes, Eri finds herself supported by Shiki, barely managing to stand upright. Shiki, who has Joshua’s shirt clenched in her free hand, shouting, “ _What did you do to her!?_ ”

“I’m fine, Shiki,” she rasps, managing to stand on her own despite her jellified legs. She doesn’t let go of Shiki’s hand.

“I was testing her sensitivity to the UG, to Shibuya. Hanging out with all of us, it’s likely she picked up the inclination to it. Eri,” he says, turning to her, and _oh_. Thunderclouds roll in his eyes, lightning crackles at the edge of his skin, luminescent. Ozone burns the air, _she can see it all_.

Flickers, the power lurking under that skin, the city trapped in the body of a boy. There’s a difference, between knowing something and _understanding_. She’s known his title, but with the way he leaks at the edges? Shimmers and blends with Shibuya’s crystal plasma ocean in her peripherals?

She understands. As he tells her: “Your bond to Shibuya’s Music is strong,” she feels it, in her Soul. A piece of her twisted up with Shibuya’s notes, her fabric, forming a knot out of their shared thread.

In attempting to gauge her bond, he’d awoken something instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eri doesn't get enough love in the fandom. Eri should get to join the cool kids' club where the UG has a hold on EVERYONE! :D
> 
> I wrote this at work cuz that's what being a library student employee is like lol
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a boy staring out the window. His eyes glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings!

There’s a boy staring out the window of WildKat, watching the people pass by. With a glow in his eyes.

The violet hue isn’t illuminated by the lights, or the sun, the cloudy day outside gives no reason for the ethereal aura buzzing. Pulling. Lighting up the air.

Gaze fixated on a battle no living being should  _ possibly _ be able to see.

But of course Sanae ends up with a kid seeing the UG in his shop. It must be fate, or destiny.

“Hey, kiddo, what’cha watchin?” he asks, and the head swivels, the glow finds him.

Eyes widen. “Why do you have wings?”

The mug in his hand falls, but Hanekoma acts on instinct to stop it, letting it hover back to the counter. “You can see my wings?”

“You can see the things… I see, right? You asked cuz you know? You just  _ levitated _ something, you have to know!”

This kid bounces in his seat, eyes sparkling,  _ glowing _ with the vision of the UG.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is quick and not all I wanted it to be sry. Maybe I'll do smth more for the idea later!
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	26. Day 26: Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An explosion shakes the earth. A Fallen stands before the people Josh wants to protect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for uh? Death??? Erasure. He deserved it.

An explosion shakes the earth, chunks of concrete flying, a cloud of debris in the air. Neku, Beat, Rhyme, Shiki, and Eri all cry out, searching, seeking each other. Their weekly meeting at Hachiko had gone south.

A man clad in a dark suit had appeared from thin air, had walked toward them with a hand raised, and Neku wasn't the only one who took a step back. The Music was _wrong_ , static reverb on the edge of his consciousness. The others, touched by the UG, had felt it too, whether it be from Noise instincts, the dredges of Reaper awareness, or the subtle sense of the universe shifting out of place.

A threat. _Show me your power, boy. Fight me_ , as he stared down at Neku.

A laugh, a shake of his head. _Or what?_

_Or this._

And then the bomb went off, the explosion spewing out from his extended hand, aimed dead at Neku.

He stood now, brushing himself off. Unharmed except for the fall caused by the localized earthquake.

They were all safe.

In front of him, both arms stretched out, palms facing out, stood Josh, a barrier projected from his hands.

Wind whipped around him, dust settled. The white fire burning a hole between the planes wisping from his body did not dissipate.

The Fallen looks into those eyes, and is met with a flame. Burning so hot it numbs you to the pain, turns cold and you to dust. Steel and white, holy light glints inside.

Wings stretch from his back, hiding the others from view, safe in a bubble of protection as he takes soft, measured steps away. Closer to the danger.

Smoke curls from his mouth, floating in the air between them. Acid burns his tongue as the cobra constricts tighter at his heart. Not a second later and the others would have joined the dust.

"I don't think you understand the foolish error you've just committed," Joshua says, voice saccharine poison, venom, and he wants to spit it out.

"You. Will. Not. Touch. Them." The command has the weight of Shibuya behind it. The city leaps at his feet, pooling into silky white, twirling around his body until there's no true separation. No end to him and beginning of her.

"What if I do, little Composer?"

"Bold of you to assume I'm giving you a choice." The smile on his face is not a happy smile, nor is it sad, it just is. Teeth sharp and pointed and _inhuman_.

Standing tall, poised for battle, Neku decides Joshua looks like an avenging angel. A blood-red halo from the sun in his hair, and the Holy rage seeping from his pores, choking the air outside the bubble.

The Fallen implodes, a burst of static and a shriek as Josh smites him, and falls to the cold concrete ground himself.

All Neku can think, as he runs to aid his friend, and looks at the pile of ash, is _my friend is scarier than you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this at 2am on my phone fun fact. On October 2nd.
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	27. Day 27: Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I've got a bone to pick with you."
> 
> Taboo has no excuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for suicidal discussion.

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”

Sanae looks up, over at Josh, who is sitting  _ on _ the counter. Again. No matter how much he tells him not to. He looks older though, starting to grow, about eighteen now, the same age as Neku. “What’s up, J?’

Joshua stares. It’s the stare he has sometimes, when something’s at the tip of his tongue, and he weighs it heavy against the hurt. He squares his shoulders, looks at his eyes (not really, never the eyes, Josh is looking at his forehead, his nose, his face, but Sanae won’t call him on it).

“You tried to have me Erased.” Sanae winces, but Joshua continues, “You gave Minamimoto Taboo, you did everything you could to try and dethrone me.”

“It hasn’t taken you three years to realize this, has it?” he asks, because there’s no defense he has against truthful accusations.

Josh shakes his head. “No, but it’s taken me three years to decide that you weren’t justified in doing it.”

Sanae wants to reply, but Joshua’s glare stops him. Joshua’s hands do, too, signing words with rapidfire precision to strike his heart.

[I was depressed, I wanted to be  _ Erased _ .] Josh isn’t looking at him anymore, watching his own signs. [You could’ve thought,  _ looked _ at me and my actions, and realized I needed help, not another person out for my neck. Instead, I got the only person I ever thought of as a parental figure stabbing me in the back.]

“Josh, I--.”

[It’s funny. Neku had every reason to shoot, and he didn’t. You had every reason to realize what was really going on, and you didn’t. Don’t waste your time trying to apologize.]

And he’s gone, thin air taking his place before Sanae can speak, leaving him alone once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops I fell behind again
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)
> 
> (2/23/19) Edit: [YALL CHECK OUT THE COMIC THE WONDERFUL CAVESALAMANDER DID OF THIS!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!](http://cavesalamander.tumblr.com/post/183005980183)


	28. Day 28: Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long day of moving leaves everyone exhausted. Even the cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cuteness!!! Cuddling!!!

It’s quiet.

A long day of moving made easier with Joshua’s help, but everyone has lost the excited energy. Crashed in the living room on the new, extra-large couch. More like two king-sized mattresses pushed together, with backs on three of the four sides. Blankets and pillows and people in a mound.

The penthouse of Pork City is an expansive apartment, recently renovated (with the aid of a magical touch). Six bedrooms--even if only half seem to be used in one night, each person has a private space--each with its own full-sized bathroom, and a living room built to accommodate all the residents.

A chef’s kitchen. All sorts of creative spaces, from an art studio with tools for any medium, to a designer’s lounge with fabric lining the wall and heavy-duty sewing machines and thread ready to handle any project. A music room, the best acoustics and recording devices, the best instruments and tech.

A space that isn’t quite sure yet. Moldable, not decided. It could be a dancer’s studio. Or an author’s study. Books on all sorts of topics, coding and biology and philosophy. Rhyme has all the time in the world to explore. A chance to find new dreams, a second chance after death that they can choose not to squander.

And, of course, a cat.

“Joshua,” Neku says, voice muffled, “ _please_ remove Meatloaf from my face.”

Josh laughs. “I think he likes his spot.” He reaches out, petting the cat.

Neku is laying on his back, wings splayed beneath him, as Josh uses Neku’s stomach as a pillow, his own wings out as well, acting like a blanket. His feathers brush against Neku’s resting together, and the hum of power melding, flowing between them, the Music weaving new songs plays out as a lullaby in his ears.

Conductor and Composer, hearts pulsing in sync with the city as their beat.

Shiki and Eri are cuddling on the other side of the couch, design doodles and needles stuck into Mr. Mew as they idly work away, half-asleep. Meanwhile, Beat and Rhyme are sandwiched in the middle, not that it’s a tight squeeze with all the space available, already passed out under no less than five blankets, cushioned by just as many pillows.

With all the space available, Meatloaf has still decided the best place to rest is Neku’s face.  Grooming his gelled hair, despite how awful it must taste, and purring away.

“I’ve been _betrayed_. My cat and my boyfriend, united against me, to make my unlife misera--”Meatloaf’s tail lands in Neku’s open mouth, and he sputters.

Josh laughs, and he’s sure if he could see Neku’s eyes under the cat’s body, he’d see a glare. “It’s rude to talk when someone’s napping on your face, dear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS NICE. THIS IS GOOD. THEY'RE HAPPY!!! IGNORE THE FACT THAT RHYME DIES FIRST IN THIS VERSE!!!
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	29. Day 29: Slime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slim is stimmy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None!

“So.”

“Yes?”

“Slime.”

Josh nods at Neku, grinning. “It’s great!” He reaches into the small container in one of his hands, taking out the red slippery slime.

“And you think… I’ll like it?” Neku asks, staring at the blue slime in the container he holds. 

“If you don’t,” Josh says, “I’ll grab you a tangle instead!” He lets the slime slide over his hand, through his fingers, making sure to keep it from dripping to the table.

Neku takes it out, shivering at the cold…  _ slimy _ texture. But once he gets pas that it’s… Actually kind of nice? It flows, it doesn’t stick to him too much. He can smush it and play with it and focus on it, and it doesn’t cause sensory issues.

“Like it?”

Only when Josh asks does Neku look up, realizing he’d been fixated on it for a few minutes now. 

“It’s great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lov that slime (this is a triple update)
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	30. Day 30: Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stars in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings!

The sky is pitch black. 

Darkness surrounds them on the roof of 104. Neku is afraid, for a moment, laying on his back when all the lights went out. 

“The power is still on,” Josh says beside him, and Neku can hear the smile in his voice. “I just blocked out all the light pollution. Look up, at the stars.”

Neku does, and he  _ sees _ .

Countless lights hang in the sky. As a city boy, the lights had kept the beauty of the night at bay. 

He lays on his back, Joshua’s hand guiding his to point out the constellations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Literally a drabble! 100 words exactly!
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Implied death

The end of the world is peaceful.

The city below lies in ruins, people long gone, spaceships sailed away, out of the atmosphere. Through the universe, finding new homes, new hopes to build. When the Earth became unsalvageable, when the sun became too hot, the start of humanity was left to dust.

104 is empty, but two people and a city sit at the edge of the roof.

“This is really it, isn’t it?” Neku asks, watching as the last ship sails off into the stars.

“Yes,” the voice by him echoes, layered, two people speaking at once. One of Joshua’s eyes shines golden, no iris, no white space of void, just solid, glittery gold.

Shibuya wanted to join them both. It’s her funeral, after all.

“You could still go, you know,” Josh says. Shibuya says. They want him to continue, to leave them both behind and survive. “Teleport into that ship. Use the last of our power to leave.”

It had been a long argument, getting them to let him stay.

“Nah. I’ve had enough time. Shibuya is my home,  _ you’re _ the last piece of home I have.”

Neku smiles at Josh, at Shibuya, and takes their hand.

They face the end.

Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT  
> AND I FEEL FINE
> 
> Yeah all the other characters are dead by now lol HAPPY ENDING TO THIS
> 
> If you like this, drop me a comment and kudos below!
> 
> [For statements about transformative works based on mine and concrit, along with where to find me, check out my profile page linked here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/profile)  
> (summary: I love everything people do based of my works and wanna know!)
> 
> [For info about my twewy discord server (including rules accessible outside the server itself) check out this link!](http://composeregg.tumblr.com/twewy-discord)


End file.
